The electronics of 2003, time-machined into today: the synths of that Gropiusstadt summer with current upgrades, cello, percussion and synthesizers pushed through guitar amps – and a limping synth bass every time Lukas runs.
Director
David Wnendt
Cinemas
Berlinale premiere, then number one at the German box office with over a million admissions
Production
Seven Elephants, Constantin Film
Cast
Levy Rico Arcos, Vincent Wiemer, Rafael Luis Klein-Heßling, Aaron Maldonado-Morales
Synopsis
Berlin-Gropiusstadt, summer 2003. Lukas and his friends Gino, Julius and Sanchez are fifteen, broke and sweating through a heat wave between dealers, bullies and parents who have given up. When Gino has the idea of breaking into the school to steal the new computers, the summer turns serious. Based on the bestselling novel by Felix Lobrecht; premiered at the Berlinale.
From the press notes
“David Wnendt and I agreed every stage of the score together. I started with a palette of synthesizer sounds that recall the early 2000s; later we widened that world piece by piece with surprising elements, as the film needed them. We were looking for sounds that create a mood for the characters in the different places. A connecting element: acoustic instruments – cello, synthesizer, percussion – distorted through guitar amplifiers. The distortion made the sound more direct, and more aggressive at the same time. Lukas’s many running scenes are carried by a simple, monotonous but limping synth bass – an endless loop where you ask yourself whether his running is running away or moving forward.”